Thiosteroid and process for producing the same



I with. we'llrestablished practice in the art,

Patented Oct. 28, 1941 :11.

t it 'r'HIos rEIwml-ANDranches-{non 4 PRODUCING J I Rudolph Resale? New York; N;-

nonm m 1.1 This invention renew cr-ganiccrJmp oundsof. the cyclopenteno perhydrophenanthreneseries, and. in particular to';sulfur addition products of organic compounds, containing the; cyclopentenoperhydrophenanthrene nucleus. For simplicity 5,

in the statement: of: the inventiongthe ternr steroids? [will be used to designate broadly or" ganic compounds containing; the cyclopentenoperhydrophenanthren'ef nucleus yin, accordance It isa generaltobject, of; the invention-.120 provide asteroid containingsulfur-attacheddirectly It is a further specificobject of theinventiongizo to provide a method for -.preparing metabolic polysulfides of theste oid's whichl are. capable of being absorbedby the skin. 1

'OtherjObjects. r. the inventionwill' in-cpart, be

obvious andwill"in part appear hereinafter.

In accordance .With th e present invention, a new series of organic compounds having valuable physiological properties. are. obtained by reacting a steroid and sulfunat an elevated temperature Application November 29, 1939, Serial No. 306,641 w Q .6".T- '5)3 product possessing the-features, properties, and the relation: of?- elements. which are: exemplified in;ther-followingzdetailed disclosure, and the scopeof thezinvention will beindicated'in the claims. Referring. theaabove structural formula, the

steroidsyare-j characterized. by havingfrom one to three double bondswwhich may occur between the. carbon atoms-.- 132 or. 3,4301? 4,5,.01'" 5,6 or 7 ,8,

or; 5,10,. such. steroids; beingi hereinafter referred I to in the specification and-aclaimszas..unsaturated.

steroids; It. appears that-during; the. reactionof the; present invention, one: or; more of: the double bonds; breakso thatpsulfur is: added. directly ,to the: nucleus; For each. double bond. the number of atoms; of. sulfur added. can-be 2,4; or 6. Where available for reaction.

there areamorer than. two atoms of sulfur. added fortone: double; bond; .it is believed; that the sulfur:

atoms-v for m a:ri gz.structure1with; two of the atoms a ttached;direc tly to.-'th"e nucleus as:

s w s 1 Sr. I: v

Therefore; the total sulfur added w ilf dependupon the-number of-double-bonds presentin thesteroid andthe amount of sulfur present and Even when there are double bonds in the side chain of' the steroid, the sulfur adds only to the nucleus. By limiting the at which an exothermic reaction commences, whereby the sulfur uniteswiththe' steroid to" amount of fre'emsulmr'avaflabletfor reactmn, less form a sulfur-addition product containing not less than two sulfur atoms attached to the snu cleus. The new series of compounds have the following general formula-:-

inwhich S representssulfun and-F112? has a value- 5 I of not-less than.2, andrin-which Rziis ;hydrogen;

gen or an aliphatic ;(saturated or unsaturated) a side; chain -.whi ch;mayybe straight or branched,

or :mineral'oils- The steroid and: sulfur may beand which chan may; contain.hydroxy:1,=, ketonic1.

or carboxyl radicals. I, The invention accordingly comprises: the sevJ- eral stepszandzrelatiqnipf one or more of such than the totalrnumber of double. bonds in the 35 sulfur (Ml P. 112.8 6.), flowers of sulfur (M. P.

112m of); monoclinic sulfur (M. P. 119.25" 0.), or' amorphous sulfur (M. P. 119.25 0.).

inert i solvent liquid. such as a carbon disulfide,

. carbon tetrachloride, andv then. reacted with the steroid; or the sulfur may first be melted and then reacted" with the steroid; v

, Thel steroid may be employedinitially' in solid or liquid form: and it is Within the scope of" the invention to employ the-steroiddissolved or disperseda ins an inert solvent or liquid such for examplezas carbon disulfi'de, carbon tetrachloride dissolved? in a single commonsolvent or in separate;. but. miscible solvents and then reacted byheatingr Valuable mixtures of the new products of the inyentionlare obtained: by: reactin a mixsteps withrespect to each of the others, and the ture of two or more steroids with sulfur. Since It is .preferred w use the sulfur. in a. finely*-dividedi solidi statesuch" as sublimed. sulfun; although the 'smrur ifiay'fi'rst be dissolved or dispersedin an the steroids are capable of existing in many stereo-isomeric forms, the reaction product will likewise consist of one or more compounds having the normal (cis) or epi(trans) configuration.

In carrying out the reaction, one mole of a steroid and the stoichiometric amount of sulfur are mixed together and the mixture heated slowly, as in an oil bath, to an elevated temperature such that an exothermic reaction commences, for example, above 112.8 C. The exothermic reaction may be allowed to continue to completion. If a solvent or inert liquid reaction obtained is a steroid polysulfide or thiosteroid characterized by being a solid of high-melting point having a color from red to brown depending upon the increasing amount of sulfur added, and by being insoluble in water, slightly soluble in ethyl alcohol, and soluble in vegetable and mineral oils.

The absorbed compound appears to be in a metabolic form, and is biologically active and capable of being utilized by the tissues of the human body for metabolism. The new series I of compounds provided by the present invention medium is employed, it is evaporated to obtain the sulfur addition product. Whenever an excess of one of the reagents is employed, the excess can be removed, after reaction, by extraction with a suitable solvent.

For each individual steroid there appears to be a critical temperature at which the exothermic addition reaction occurs, Usually the temperature to which the mixture of steroid and sulfur must be heated to commence the reaction is above the melting point of the steroid and of the sulfur, that is, above about 112.8 C. As soon'as the critical reaction temperature'is reached, an exothermic reaction begins and continues until the addition of sulfur is completed.

By way of illustration, but not. by way of limiting the invention, there will be given the fol-- lowing specific example: r

1 gram of pure cholesterol and 1.76 grams of solid sublimed sulfur are mixed in a flask and the flask placed in an oil bath. The temperature of the mixture is raised gradually until both substances have melted and is finally raised to 216 C. at which temperature a strong exothermic reaction occurs. The product-is a solid reddish sulfur addition product of the steroid containing two atomic weights of sulfur for each mole of cholesterol, and may be called 5,6 thiocholesterol.

In a similar manner there may be prepared the polysulfides of other steroids, for example,

the following:

are indicated as specifics for the treatment of sulfur-deficiency diseases of all types of the general description thiopeanic.

I claim:

1. A process for producing a thiosteroid containing sulfur attached to the nucleus, comprising heating an unsaturated steroid with sulfur taining sulfur attache'd'to the nucleus, compris ing mixing a'solid unsaturated steroid with solid sulfur, melting the mixture and heating the molten mixtur to an elevated temperature above 112.8 'C. to cause the steroid and sulfur to react.

4. A process for producing a thiosteroid containing sulfur attached'to the nucleus comprising heating-an unsaturated steroid and'sulfur in the presence of a solvent for said substances to aftemperature above 112.8 C.'to cause the steroid and sulfur to react and recovering the.

reaction product from the solvent.

5. A process forproducing' a thiosteroid "containing sulfur, attached to the nucleus compris ing heating. one mole of cholesterol'with two Positions of nuclear I 1 groups Substance Side chain R Q Double 0.3 .bonds- ErgosteroLCzgH4 O (trans).. onnao on on.on=cH-on-on on3.. 3 5,6, 7,8.

Corticosterone, o21'1130ol ownag on)jo -ooon on '11 a 4,5.

Progesterone, 021113002"--- Testosterone, OIQHQSOZ (tra EStIiOI, G1sH21(OH)3 e-estradiol, C1gH21(OHlz Estronc, C1sHz1(OH)O The above examples showthat ,the composition of the new series of thiosteroids may vary widely depending upon (a)- the nature of the side chains R, R, R" (of the formula given above), (b) in the spatial configuration of the nucleus and its substituents, (c) in the number and po-' ber and position of the sulfur atoms added.

.The sulfur-addition, product of the steroid thus atomic weights of sulfur to an elevated tempera-- '7. As a new product, a thiosteroid containing v RUDOLPHREBOLD, 4 

